


Pining in Graphite

by yuriobug



Series: Two Idiots Trying Their Best [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Crushes, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Constipation, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Sketches, the pining is mutual but raph doesn't know that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 01:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20940107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuriobug/pseuds/yuriobug
Summary: “What do you think he’s working on?” Mikey whispered, as they watched their hotheaded brother from around the corner. Raph was super protective of his sketches, so his brothers learned to stay away from him when he was drawing, unless he specifically gave them permission to look.“No idea.” Leo shrugged.“Well, the Zora Domain had some amazing new sights; maybe he’s sketching those?” Donnie suggested.“Or...maybe he’s sketching one particular sight.” Mikey snickered. “A certain prince, perhaps.”





	Pining in Graphite

**Author's Note:**

> I am going down with this ship!
> 
> I have so many ideas for this pairing and one day, I'll actually stop procrastinating and actually write them. But for now, I how you'll accept this small oneshot! Please tell me what you think!

It started with a drawing.

As soon as figured out how to get back from the Zora Domain, Raph had grabbed his sketchbook from his room and plopped on the couch, and he’d been there for a good few hours now. Leo had even been able to turn on his beloved Space Heroes without so much as a scoff or eye roll, which is how he knew Raphael was immersed in whatever he was creating.

Leo had asked him what he’d been working on, but Raph had only shooed him away and told him to mind his own business. Leo had retreated into the kitchen with Donnie and Mikey, where they still remained.

“What do you think he’s working on?” Mikey whispered, as they watched their hotheaded brother from around the corner. Raph was super protective of his sketches, so his brothers learned to stay away from him when he was drawing, unless he specifically gave them permission to look.

“No idea.” Leo shrugged.

“Well, the Zora Domain had some amazing new sights; maybe he’s sketching those?” Donnie suggested.

“Or...maybe he’s sketching one particular sight.” Mikey snickered. “A certain prince, perhaps.”

Donnie and Leo exchanged an amused glance. “I forgot about that.” Leo chuckled.

“How could you? I’ve never seen him turn so red!”

“I’m still surprised Sidon survived that. I mean, he kissed Raph’s hand. I was expecting him to be on trial for murder by now.” Leo snorted, crossing his arms.

“That may be true, but do you really think he’s drawing Sidon?” Donnie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure of it! And I’m going to find out!”

Leo winced, grabbing his arm. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. You know how protective Raph is about his sketches, let alone if they’re sketches of his…” He trailed off, not sure how to describe Sidon in relation to his brother.

“Love interest?” Donnie suggested.

“Prince Charming?” Mikey cooed playfully.

“His crush.” Leo finally settled on, because there had to be something there to prevent Raph from committing murder.

“Come on bros, I’ll be super sneaky! He’ll never see me coming!”   
Leo was still hesitant, but Donnie just shrugged and said, “Well, it’s your funeral.”

They watched from around the corner as Mikey tiptoed behind the couch Raph was sitting on, holding their breath as Mikey leaned over Raph’s shoulder. It was a testament to how distracted Raph was; usually he would’ve noticed Mikey coming from a mile away, but he seemed completely unaware. Perfect for Mikey to take a look and sneak away again.

Of course, being the youngest brother, Mikey couldn’t just walk away without teasing.

“Aww.” He cooed in Raph’s ear, and Raph responded with a yelp and oh so gracefully flipped him over the couch and onto the hard floor.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Raph exclaimed, holding his sketchbook protectively to his chest with one hand. The other hand was clenched at his side, but he seemed more embarrassed than angry. For now, anyway.

“I wanted to see what you were drawing, man! And I gotta say, those are some really good drawings of Sidon.” Mikey winked, hopping to his feet. Raph hadn’t slammed him down like he usually did, so Mikey wasn’t seeing stars this time.

Leo had to hold back a snicker as Raph turned red as a beet. “Shut up! I wasn’t drawing Sidon!”

“So, you know more than one tall shark guy with sharp teeth and blue eyes?” Donnie asked innocently.

Blue? Leo tilted his head, but he saw there Donnie was going with this when Raph responded.

“Blue? His eyes aren’t blue! They’re...they’re like molten gold or some shit, warm in an intense kind of way.” Raph didn’t seem to realize what he’d said until he felt the knowing gazes of his family.

“PURELY from an artist perspective!” He basically screeched.

“You’re not fooling anyone, Raph. You have a crush on Sidon.” Leo teased, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“No! No, absolutely not!” He snapped.

“And he likes you, too!” Mikey cooed. “This is adorable!”

“He doesn’t...no way he likes me!” Raph looked ready to combust, and it was the funniest thing his brothers had ever seen.

“Raphael, he  _ kissed your hand.  _ If that doesn’t express interest, I don’t know what does!” Donnie pointed out.

“It was just some dumb chivalry thing, it didn’t mean anything!” Raph tried to wave it off, but Leo wasn’t letting it go that quickly.

“Then why didn’t he do it to the rest of us?” He asked innocently.

“Will you get the fuck off my back already for fuck’s sake?!” Raph finally exploded, before turning on his heel and stomping out of the lair. He’d reached his limit with their pestering, it seemed.

He took his sketchbook with him, Mikey noted.

“...Think we pushed him too far?” Donnie murmured.

“Maybe. But he’ll come to his senses soon enough.” Leo said.

“I hope so. This pining is already so stressful and they just met last week, dude!” Mikey flopped on the couch where Raph had sat, Leo and Donnie joining him to see what was on tv. It had taken them a week to return from the Zora Domain, and luckily it seemed things hadn’t gone to shit while they were gone. Casey, Karai, and April did a good job of holding down the fort.

Meanwhile, Raphael made his way to Casey’s house. Though he knew they had been forced into an unexpected dimension, he didn’t know the details, and that was what Raph needed right now. Someone who wasn’t going to tease him about a crush that didn’t exist.

Racing across the New York rooftops helped him, cooling the burning in his cheeks. A crush? Disgusting. He wasn’t Donnie, pining over someone out of his reach.

Raph ignored the small pang of guilt he felt at that thought by pushing himself to run harder, push himself faster. He wouldn’t be able to think if his body was pushed to breaking. He almost forgot to stop at Casey’s place, having to turn and make his way back after he realized he’d passed Casey’s window five minutes ago.

With an annoyed sigh, he circled back and banged on his friend’s window, a scowl etched into his features.

“What’s got you so upset?” The first thing out of Casey’s mouth was a question, one that Raph couldn’t even begin to answer. Not truthfully, anyway. Instead, he just grunted and stepped inside his friend’s perpetually messy room.

“Pissed at your brothers again?” Casey pressed, flopping back on his bed and picking up his phone. He’d learned through trial and error that the best thing to do was act casual, let Raph open up on his own time. Let him know you were listening, but don’t be too annoying about it.

Casey wasn’t good at following that particular piece of advice, but he tried! Sometimes.

Raph sat next to him without comment, glaring down at the sketchbook in his hands. Casey knew he shouldn’t, but he peeked around Raph’s arm to see what his buddy was working on.

“Who’s that?” He couldn’t help but ask, watching with interest as Raph grew tense once again and closed the sketchbook with a snap.

“No one!” Raph replied, a little too forcefully to be true.

“No one, huh?” He murmured, but this time, he knew for sure not to press.

Raph fell silent once more, and Casey started counting off the seconds until his buddy cracked.

It took 42 seconds.

“He’s just...some guy we met when Renet accidentally sent us to the wrong dimension again.”

“Okay. So...what’s he like? He must be pretty cool if you’re drawing him so much.” Casey had counted four sketches of this shark guy before Raph had shut his sketchbook, and he had a small inkling that this was more than just a passing interest. He was a knucklehead, sure, but he wasn’t stupid.

“He’s a prince; so, really polite, upbeat, energetic, I guess.” Raph didn’t know it, but a fond smile crossed his lips as he spoke about Sidon, something Casey instantly noticed as he started to put two and two together.

While Raph was talking, he covertly texted Mikey, wanting to know more about this Sidon guy.

_ ‘So, Raph seems to really vibe with this Sidon guy’ _

A response came within seconds, which didn’t surprise him. Mikey was glued to his phone whenever possible, usually playing music.

_ ‘Oh, definitely, dude! Did he tell you about the kiss?’ _

Casey’s eyebrows shot into his hairline, and he had to cover his choked noise with a cough.

“You okay, man?” Raph asked, pausing in his ever-growing description of this Sidon character. He was practically rambling at this point, which was interesting enough in itself, considering Raph was not a man of many words. He preferred his fists to do the talking, but here he was rambling about a guy he just met.

“Y-Yeah, yeah man! I’m fine, just choked on my spit.”

Raph rolled his eyes fondly. “Not surprising, coming from you.” He teased, dodging the kick at his side.

With Raph distracted, Casey was able to safely type out a reply.

_ ‘No, but I need to know about it now.’ _

The wait for a response was agonizing, and Casey didn’t even have Raph’s ramblings to amuse him. He apparently realized he hadn’t shut up in about five minutes, so he had shut his mouth and gone back to his drawing. More of the same guy, Casey noted. Finally, he got a response, and he couldn’t believe what he read.

_ ‘When we got to the Zora Domain, Sidon was the first person we met. He was really upbeat and excited, and he nearly broke our arms shaking our hands! But when Raph went to shake his hand, he totally flipped the script and kissed the back of his hand like in an old movie or something, man!’ _

_ “This is why I need to come with you on your adventures! I miss all the good stuff!’ _

“Who are you texting?” Raph asked, trying to peer over Casey’s shoulder.

“No one! Just someone from school!”   
Raph was obviously not convinced, but he didn’t push, though he was eyeing him suspiciously.

“So…” Casey tried to sound casual. “How did you meet this Sidon guy?”

The red that spread across Raph’s face was legendary. Casey had only seen Raph turn red on less than a handful of occasions, and each time he tried to commit it to memory because each time it was hilarious. It was such a departure from his usual rough and tough demeanor.

“Oh, you know...The usual.” He said with a vague hand gesture.

“He’s a prince, right?” Casey had picked up on that part from Raph’s rambling. “Did he do any princely things?” He wiggled his eyebrows, bursting into guffaws as Raph nearly shoved him off of the bed.

“You were texting one of my brothers, weren’t you?” He growled, eyes flashing.

“...Maybe. But Raph, it’s no big deal to have a crush on someone!”

“First of all, I don’t have a crush! I was just...caught off guard, that’s all!”

Casey could tell from the tense set of Raph’s shoulders and the clench of his fists that he had no intention of backing down or changing his mind, so the best thing he could do was drop it before he really pissed Raph off.

“Okay, okay. I believe you.” Casey raised his hands in surrender. “Just saying, no one will judge you if you like a guy.”

“It doesn’t matter if Sidon is a girl, a guy, or otherwise!” Raph wasn’t really sure how gender worked in the Zora Domain, but if nonbinary people existed in this dimension, then surely they must exist in others.

“Then what’s the problem?” Casey’s question snapped Raph out of his thoughts.

“The problem is, you guys are making a big deal out of nothing. Sidon’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but a crush is not even in the cards!”

Casey opened his mouth to argue, but he could see that it would do more harm than good at this point.

“Fine, fine, I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up anymore.” Casey relented, watching as Raph slowly began to wind down from his angered state.

“Thank you. I’m so tired of hearing about it.”

Casey turned on the tv in the room to break up the stifling silence, and Raph returned to his sketching. Casey made sure not to look, though he was pretty sure he knew the subject matter.

One thing he knew for sure, though; he was going to have to meet this Sidon, see if he was worthy of his best buddy.


End file.
